Eureka Seven: AO
"AO" redirects here. For the character, see Ao Thurston. | ja romaji = Eureka Sebun AO (Ei Ō) | genre = Science fiction, Mecha, Adventure }} }} is a mecha anime TV series by Bones, serving as a sequel to the original ''Eureka Seven anime. AO tells the story of Ao Fukai, a young boy who "sets destiny in motion again when he held the power." It has been adapted into both an anime and a manga. On December 22, 2011, Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine announced that a sequel manga titled Eureka Seven: AO would be launched in their January 26 issue. Yūichi Katō began drawing the manga based on the original story by BONES. Later that same day, an anime adaption of the manga was announced, and began airing April 12, 2012 and concluded on November 20, 2012 with a span of 24 episodes. Contrary to its' predecessor, Eureka Seven: AO was negatively panned by fans and critics. Plot and Themes Ao Thurston is a 13-year-old boy living in the year 2025 in Iwato island, Okinawa with Dr. Toshio Fukai ever since Ao's mother Eureka disappeared 10 years ago. When a mysterious organization attacks the local Scub Coral, Ao somehow gets mixed up in the battle and manages to activate a mysterious robot called the Nirvash while it is being transported by the Japanese Forces. Later, Ao finds out that the Nirvash belonged to Eureka, and by joining Team Pied Piper of Generation Bleu, he embarks on a journey to find his mother and learn the truth about his origins. Like its' predecessor, Eureka Seven: AO works on a variety of themes. The most obvious are the themes of acceptance, love, growing up, and responsibility. Allegories of world conflicts and wars, political climates, and environmental movements are presented in the series. Racial discrimination is presented via how Ao and Eureka were ostracized for their unusual appearances. Eureka Seven ended so hopefully that it seemed Eureka and Renton had finally came to a resolution: a happy ending to the tragic lives they led up to that point. In metaphorical terms, '' Eureka Seven'' revolves around Renton learning about the beauty of idealism and sees the world full of flaws and hardships. In Eureka Seven: AO revolves around Ao who realizes that idealism can't solve everything but giving up those ideals is worse than struggling to limit in order to try and make them happen. Eureka Seven: AO shows that happy ending are not guaranted; Renton and Eureka have lost a daughter, which causes them to lose their idealism. They also have to give up their son in order to protect him and they don't stop him from making his decision to sacrifice his own identity and connection to his loved ones to save his world and his parents. Eureka Seven: AO serves as a powerful message about life and what happens when adults forget hope, and the legacy of children. The series also covers the themes of family, parental love, and self-sacrifice between Ao, Renton, and Eureka; how Renton and Eureka are willing to risk their lives and happiness to protect their son, and Ao willing to sacrifice himself to save his parents. Personal identity plays a huge role to Ao, as he struggles with the origins of his existence and finding his place in his world. Setting The series takes place in the year 2025 of an alternate universe, initally on the Iwato Jima and Okinawa Islands, and later on, throughout the world. Terminology Mechanics While the original Eureka Seven featured mechs known as "LFOs" (Light Finding Operations), Eureka Seven: AO features mechs known as "IFOs" (Intelligent Flying Objects), which were developed by reverse-engineering the RA272 Nirvash, also known as the Mark I, which was created by Renton Thurston almost 10,000 years into the future from a parallel universe via combining his knowledge of LFOs and Scub Coral. When his son, Ao, comes into contact with it, he is somehow able to activate it, even though it has been immobile for 10 years, as somehow only Eureka, Renton, and Ao are able to pilot it. Prior to Ao joining them, Team Pied Piper had only two IFOs. The RA164 Alleluia is an IFO used by Team Pied Piper that is primarily piloted by Fleur, built for electronic warfare. It is highly mobile, but it is not heavily armed. The other IFO is the RA304 Kyrie, which is piloted by Elena and designed for long-range combat. It is heavily armed but is not very mobile. Team Goldilocks has three IFOs at its disposal. Maeve McCaffrey pilots the RA121 Gloria, which is specialized for airborne combat. The RA302 Credo is piloted by Maggie Kwan and specializes in heavy artillery. The RA169 Requiem is piloted by Chloe McCaffrey and specializes in electronic reconnaissance. Team Harlequin has three other IFOs at its disposal. The RA122EB Sanctus is piloted by Liu Ing; the RA121E Recordare is piloted by Lerato Food; the RA122E Benedictus is piloted by Rajkumar Nair. The American Army has its own IFO, which is the Eisenhower. Also in possession of Generation Bleu is the LFO "Kanon", but it is never activated until it fuses itself with Truth. Other LFOs features in the series are two variations of the Nirvash; the LFO Nirvash typeZERO, one being a recreation of the spec2, which is piloted by Eureka, and the original Nirvash, further evolved into a new form called "Nirvash typeZERO specV3" which is piloted by Renton. Politics In the world of Eureka Seven: AO, mankind's expansion is hindered by the Scub Corals and Secrets altering history, thus the human population is around half of its original number. Okinawa Prefecture has become an independent nation from Japan, existing as the Union of the Okinawa Islands, officially the United Okinawa and Ryukyu Islands, consisting of the real world Okinawa and Sakishima Islands with its capital city being Naha, officially the Naha Metropolis special Administrative District. This nation was created after the governments of Okinawa, China, and Japan settled after a recent war against as a result of a Scub Burst. Okinawa lost fishing rights to China and the locals still believe they are not truly independent, but the nation is surrounded by a Trapar bubble that allows for the use of FPs. Iwato Jima, the island that is home to the main characters, is in territory disputed by the three parties. Still, the Japanese Armed Forces often perform operations in its former territory. Due to a Scub Burst after the end of World War II, Japan's economic recovery was delayed, leading to its evident lack of power and influence in comparison to real-life Japan. The Soviet Union, which dissolved near the end of the 20th century, still exists in this alternate realm. Technology and Scub Coral The IFOs are the predecessors to the LFOs from Eureka Seven. They are humanoid robots created by combining FP technology with the Scub Coral. "FP" stands for "Flying Platform", a vehicle that is a cross between an automobile and an airplane that uses Trapar waves, a clean energy source naturally produced by the Scub Coral, to fly at an altitude of 10 meters (33 ft). The Scub Coral seen in the world of Eureka Seven: AO are fragments of the planet-sized Scub Coral from the original Eureka Seven timeline that mysteriously appears in the past as far as the end of the 18th century, drastically altering history as mankind originally had its first contact with Scub Corals in the 21st century. This turn causes the appearance of beings called "Secrets", or G-Monsters by Okinawans, that exist for the purpose of nullifying an anomaly, including the Scub Coral. Once finding a Scub Coral, a Secret initiates a phenomenon called the Scub Burst, which causes massive destruction around them. A Scub Burst of such power occurred ten years prior to the beginning of the series, until what the Okinawan locals call the "Sea Giant" saved the people of the island. The area around a Secret is called the ZOA or Zone Out of Action. Secrets cannont detect the presence of IFOs inside the ZOA. At the center of a Scub Coral outcropping is a nucleus called the Quartz. By removing the Quartz, the Trapar waves in the surrounding area plummet and the Secret that is seeking out the Scub Coral to initiate a Scub Burst will disappear. It is one of Team Pied Piper's missions to collect the Quartz from the Scub Coral. It is possible to find a damaged Quartz, usually after a Scub Coral outcropping has been destroyed. The use of the IFOs and FPs is only possible by the use of the Plant Corals, Scub Corals that have been harvested upon their arrival in order to produce Trapar waves. The Scub Coral at the center of the Scub Burst in Okinawa ten years ago is the world's largest Plant Coral and is used to power much of the world's Trapar-based energy. Some (Japan among them) believe that the damaged Quartz may be reused as the energy source for the Plant. An object known as the Coral Relic is being kept by Generation Bleu in its basement, but the existence of the object is limited knowledge. It is revealed that the Scub uses its Quartz to navigate through alternate universes. By destroying the Quartz, the Secrets can deny the Scub its means to escape to another universe. The Secrets even go as far as tracing the Scub's root into Renton and Eureka's world, where they attempt to exterminate the Scub once and for all, together with mankind whose bodies have been contaminated with the Scub. It is revealed that the high Trapar density environment in the Eureka Seven era is too dangerous for a Human-Coralian hybrid to live in; seen when Renton and Eureka's daughter, Amber, turned to stone and died three months after birth, which motivates them to save Ao from suffering the same fate by having him being raised in a world with less trapar that would be safe enough for him to survive. In the final scenes, Ao decides to shoot the Quartz Gun at the Secrets, effectively erasing the Secrets existence from history and leaving behind a world where the Scub would arrive and co-exist with humanity in the near future, as according in the Eureka Seven timeline. Media Manga The manga began in January 2012 and concluded in October 2012, spanning over 21 chapters in five volumes. A spin-off manga Save a Prayer began later. Anime The anime began airing on April 12, 2012 and ended on November 20, 2012. There is a total of 24 episodes. It has been released in Japan on Bluray and DVD, along with an OVA, Eureka Seven AO: The Flower Fields of Jungfrau. On May 16, 2013, Funimation has announced the official release date of the English dub. The first 4 dubbed episodes are available now to Funimation Elite subscribers. DVD/Blu-ray release date for Part 1 is August 13, 2013. The rest of the series will be available by October 15, 2013. It has not yet been announced if or when it will appear on Adult Swim. It is revealed that on August 18 2013, Star Wars the Clone Wars will be replacing the first Eureka Seven series on Toonami, which means Eureka Seven AO will not be on Adult Swim. There has also been speculation about a second season, or something else Eureka Seven related, due to a poll that has recently been taken off BONES' Facebook page for Eureka Seven AO asking what its viewers wanted to see next. A large percentage of viewers said they wished to see a new version of Eureka Seven: AO, that revolves around Ao living in his parents' world with them and his family. Staff * Original work, animation: Bones * Direction: Tomoki Kyōda * Story editor: Shō Aikawa * Key character design: Kenichi Yoshida * Nirvash design: Shōji Kawamori * Character design: Hiroyuki Oda * Mecha design: Kimitoshi Yamane, Takayuki Yanase, Kanetake Ebikawa * Design development: Shigeto Koyama (コヤマシゲト) * Design works: Shiho Takeuchi, Shingo Takeda (武半慎吾) * Special effects: Mitsuyasu Sakai * Supervision: Yasushi Muraki * Art direction: Kazuo Nagai (永井一男) * Color design: Nobuko Mizuta (水田信子) * Photography supervision: Shunya Kimura (木村俊也) * Technical direction: Yohei Miyahara (宮原洋平) * Sound direction: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi * Sound effects: Shizuo Kurahashi * Editing: Kumiko Sakamoto (坂本久美子) * Music: Kōji Nakamura * Music production: Aniplex * Music producer: 外村敬一, 黒須礼央 Music ; Opening themes * Escape by Hemenway (episodes 2-13) * by FLOW (episodes 14-) ; Ending themes * stand by me by Stereopony (episodes 1, 3-12) * by joy (episodes 14-) ; Insert songs * Parallel Sign by LAMA (episode 11) * Mirror Mirror (Koji Nakamura) (episode 11) * Seven Swell - based on 'Niji' by LAMA (episode 24) * Know Your Rights by LAMA Other A short 10-episode web series, Eureka Seven: AO: Aratanari Fukaki Ao, was released. Characters * Ao Fukai - The protagonist. Ao is the son of Renton and Eureka, making him Ao Thurston. Born on the Iwato Jima isalnd, he grew up without his father and his mother was taken away when he was a toddler, and was left in the care of his adoptive grandfather. After gaining posession of his mother's Nirvash, Ao decides to join Team Pied Piper to find his mother and learn the origins of his existence. * Naru Arata - Ao's neighbor and childhood friend. She is one of the few people who doesn't think of Ao as a monster and she has a strong bond with him. She requires oxygen therapy due to coming into contact with a Scub Burst , and became a psychic. After becoming infected with the Scub Coral, she is taken and manipulated by Truth. * Noah - An Iriomate three-toed sloth that was kept by Naru as a pet, but after Ao joins Team Pied Piper, she entrusts it in his care. * Fleur Blanc - A member of Team Pied Piper. She is somewhat of a celebrity due to her blog online, even though some people are wary of her headstrong personality and pride. She is also aware of her prowess as a pilot. She seems to have feelings for Ao, as she usually shows deep concern for him. * Elena Peoples - A member of Team Pied Piper. She enjoys reading various anime, manga, and video, even when she is piloting. Revealed as Ellen Brooks from the year 1981, she was teleported to 2020 by Eureka during a Scub Burst. Since then, she has had a deep hatred towards Eureka, until she learns the truth. * Rebecka Halström - The commander and strategist of Team Pied Piper. * Gazelle - A smuggler from Iwato Jima. He is one of the few people who felt sorry for Ao for how he was treated all his life and Gazelle has denied treating Ao the same way his family and the villagers have. * Gazelle's Father - Known as Kazuyuki kaneshiro. He is a former Okinawan singer and sanshin player. He hates Ao and leads the locals against him after he seemingly fulfills his destiny. * Pippo - Gazelle's friend and accomplice in smuggling. * Juno Han - Another accomplice of Gazelle who serves as a computer hacker. * Toshio Fukai - Ao's adopted grandfather. He owns a medical clinic on Iwato Jima and puts saving people before any other priority. He took in Eureka and her unborn son, Ao, after she arrived in 2012, and after she was taken away by the American Forces, he took in Ao as his grandson. * Truth - A Secret who confronted Eureka before her disappearance. He is able to shape-shift into a human form, as the son of Johannson who opposed the U.S. globalist tactics before committing suicide. He is capable of killing people infected by the Scub Coral. After being shot by the Quartz Gun, Truth converts into the archetype for Ao's Nirvash. * Eureka - Ao's biological mother and the heroine from Eureka Seven. She is now married to Renton and has two children: Amber and Ao. She arrived in Iwato Jima and gave birth to her son soon after. To conceal her identity, she dyed her turquoise hair brown, but she was taken by the American Forces and disappeared. She, in fact, merged with the Quartz in order to save Ao and the world he lives in from a catastrophe, causing her to be in limbo between worlds. * Renton Thurston - Ao's biological father and the hero from Eureka Seven. He is now married to Eureka and has two children: Amber and Ao. He succeeded his father and grandfather by combining his knowledge of the Scub Coral and LFOs, creating the first IFO. After his daughter's death, he decided to destroy the Scub Coral and sent Eureka to the year 2012 to ensure Ao would survive. He reveals that his intention was to go back in time and destroy the Scub Coral in order to to prevent his son from suffering the same fate as his daughter had. 73385.png|Ao Fukai, a teen boy Arata-naru.jpg|Naru Arata, a teen girl yLkRI.jpg|PiedPiper cast standing at the end of the first opening in a similiar manner to the Gekkostate cast at the end of the first opening in the original series. SaveAPrayer.jpg|Ao with Yuna Maltan in Save A Prayer, a 2nd manga series. RA272 Nirvash.jpg|The RA272 Nirvash ElenaPeoples.jpg|Elena Peoples Elena.jpg|Elena again MangaRaw.jpg|A page from the manga showing Ao's mother. Ao's father is missing. FlairBlanc.jpg|Flair Blanc NewCharacters.jpg|Flair Mecha and ships * IFO (Intelligent Flying Object) ** RA272 Nirvash ** RA164 Alleluia ** RA301 Kyrie ** RA121 Gloria ** RA302 Credo ** RA169 Requiem ** Eisenhower * FP * Secret * Triton * Medon * Shimokita * LFO (Light Finding Operation) ** Nirvash type ZERO spec2 ** Canon Terminology ; FP : "Flying Platforms", these are cars that use trapar for flight. ; Trapar : "Transparence light particles", unseen particles emitted by the Scub Coral. ; Scub Coral ; Quartz ; Coral carrier Places ; United Islands of Okinawa ; Japan ; Republic of Faisal Arabia ; United States of America Inconsistencies Between Eureka Seven and AO *The Scub Coral physically infects several people in AO, which doesn't happen in E7 (although it affects people mentally in E7). *The Scub Coral is capable of reviving a deceased person in AO, which was said to be impossible in E7. *High levels of trapar concentrations are lethal to Human-Coralian hybrids in AO; in E7, trapar can cause infect mental states and cause hallucinations, and are poisonous to Sakuya in her lotus form. Also, Anemone has both human and Coralian biology as an artificial Coralian, and she is not affected by trapar. *The Nirvash TypeZERO (in its true form) disappeared with half of the Scub Coral that departed from Earth after becoming the new Scub Command Cluster in E7; in AO, the Nirvash is piloted in spec-2 form by Eureka and later in its spec-3V form by Renton. How it reappears and why it appears in two different forms is unexplained, especially considering that the Spec-2 was later taken by Truth and given to Naru, and was apparently destroyed by Ao when he battled her. *In E7, the Seven Swell appears as a single pillar of light with seven rings around it; in AO, it appears as seven pillars of light. *Also, in AO, the Seven Swell can be used to travel to different timelines and universes, which is not mentioned to be possible in E7. *In E7, the Nirvash (in its' true form) told Renton and Eureka that the departing Scubs were traveling to a different world to avoid the Limit of Questions from occurring again and seeking a way to achieve a permanent co-existence with the humans, and would only return if they brought forth a new evolution (have a hybrid child to unite the two races). In AO, the Scub Coral and Nirvash seem unaware that Ao is the child they wanted to be born in order to unite the two species, and the Scubs had failed to reach a resolution with the humans in Ao's world, who see them as evil and a threat to the planet along with the Secrets. *In E7, Renton and Eureka knew that half of the Scubs left the Earth to avoid another Limit of Questions, so why they were conducting experiments to find out why the Scubs were disappearing in AO is unexplained. *In E7, the Nirvash TheEND was destroyed after it protected Anemone and Dominic from being killed as Dewey destroyed the Command Cluster; in AO, it mysteriously appears with a KLF as Generation Bleu fought against a Secret. *In E7, Renton and Eureka vowed to never kill or do anything that would risk the lives of others; in AO, they are so consumed with grief over the death of their daughter that they are willing to risk erasing the existence of others in order to protect Ao from suffering the same fate as his sister. *In E7, Renton found out that his father and sister (as well as Norb, Sakuya, and dozens of other people) had merged with the Command Cluster and departed with the Scubs from Earth; in AO, he knew that he was killing someone dear to him each time he destroyed a Scub Coral in Ao's world, but his grief over the death of his daughter and his desire to protect his son overcame his past promise to protect the Scub Coral. *Despite the importance of family in the series, Ao never learns the extent of his family, minus his parents and older sister. He never learns about his older adopted brothers and sister, grandfather, aunt, and great-grandfather. Ideas For a Second Adaption A list of Ideas For a Second Adaption of Eureka Seven AO. External links * Official website (Japanese) * MBS official website * * @EUREKA_AO - Eureka Seven: AO official Twitter account (Japanese language) *ANN manga announcement *ANN anime announcement *Eureka Seven AO English Announcement by Funimation ja:エウレカセブンAO Category:Eureka Seven: AO Category:Eureka 7 Category:Eureka Seven